Doug Harrison

29 Days of Hope: Day 10 Saint Nicholas’ Can of Spray Paint.

Published December 7, 2011 by Doug Harrison

Today is the feast of St Nicholas. The human who gave rise to many legends that have become, among other things, Santa Claus. What the legends of St Nicholas have in common are both a compassion for the poor and a wit of execution. The Old St Nick, apparently had a knack for cleverly executed charity, sometimes with a little cheek. Sneaking gold dowries to the daughters off a poor man though an opened window, or more famously leaving gifts of one kind or another in stockings or shoes of those who needed them most was entirely his style.

29 Days of Hope

29DaysofHope graffitti Santa Claaus spray paint

29 Days of Hope: Day 9, The Gift of the Mad Guy.

Published December 5, 2011 by Doug Harrison

“Allan” greeted me at the door with an enthusiasm that frankly would have scared me if it hadn’t made me so happy to be alive. He was in his late fifties 6’3″ thin like a coat rack with a smile that made his eyes disappear. This time of year I can only think to call him jolly. Allan has a unique way of lighting up a place. It was hard for me to believe that he was anything other than a ray of light, but he once was something else, which only makes his story that much more beautiful…

29 Days of Hope

29DaysofHope advent L'Arche

29 Days of Hope: Day 8 – How Two Tootsie Rolls Made Meeting Mother Teresa No Big Deal

Published December 5, 2011 by Doug Harrison

I lived for three months in Calcutta, India with the purpose of working with Mother Teresa. She is after all a really big deal. And so is Ganesh, for one small act he did for me changed me more meeting Mother Teresa.

29 Days of Hope

29 Days of Hope: What Forgiveness Refuses.

Published December 4, 2011 by Doug Harrison

Last night I saw a friend again that I have not seen for awhile. I was nervous about seeing him because of how we last left each other. What I left knowing is that we both desired our friendship more than we desired to look backward and be right. We forgave.

29 Days of Hope

Stanley Hauerwas and Children and the Reign of God.

Published December 2, 2011 by Doug Harrison

“Jesus called to himself a child – the essence of one who is powerless, dependent, needy, little, and poor. He placed the child ‘in the midst of them,’ as a concrete, visible sacrament of how the Kingdom looks. Jesus’ act with the child is interesting. In many of our modern, sophisticated congregations, children are often viewed as distractions. We tolerate children only to the extent they promise to become “adults” like us. Adult members sometimes complain they cannot pay attention to the sermon, they cannot listen to the beautiful music, when fidgety children are beside them in the pews. “Send them away,” many adults say. Create “Children’s Church” so these distracting children can be removed in order that we adults can pay attention.

Interestingly, Jesus put a child in the centre of his disciples, “in the midst of them,” in order to help them pay attention. The child, in Jesus’ mind, was not an annoying distraction. The child was a last-ditch effort by God to help the disciples pay attention to the odd nature of God’s kingdom. Few acts of Jesus are more radical, countercultural, than his blessing of children.”

–Stanley Hauerwas

Worth Repeating

children Hauerwas kingdom of God

29 Days of Hope: BABIES!

Published December 2, 2011 by Doug Harrison

* I wrote this yesterday evening 12/1/11. To my great surprise (chronological) baby #2, Matthew, was born at 11:45 last night. It is to him I promise to share his hope and to whom I dedicate todays reflection…

Babies
Lately, there is a lot of them in my neighborhood. WIthin one mile of my house three babies are being born in as many months. Three. I feel like even I am going to be changing a lot of diapers just by law of odds. I think having babies is an extraordinary act of hope. This is, of course, true because it is some kind of faith in the life beyond our own lives being worth living. This alone inhabits the essence of trust. But that is not all…

29 Days of Hope

29DaysofHope babies children

29 Days of Hope: World AIDS Day, We Do Not Have To Settle for the Spirit of Death

Published December 1, 2011 by Doug Harrison

29 Days of Hope: World AIDS Day, We Do Not Have To Settle for the Spirit of Death

I graduated a semester early from high school and tried getting work as an actor. I was cast in an educational film which provided the opportunity to meet a person with AIDS for the first time. Something clicked in me and I felt an enormous deep inner compulsion to held ease the suffering, for at the time the best treatments would only add a handful of painful years to one’s life. That was then …

29 Days of Hope

29DaysofHope AIDS World Aids Day

Turn, Turn Turn: Mexican Bees Know When to Dance on the Graves of the Martyrs

Published November 30, 2011 by Doug Harrison

To everything there is a season. A time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance -Ecclesiastes 3:1,4

The “Desplazados” varied group of Mexican citizens who for a variety of reasons since 1994, including fall out from NAFTA, have been “displaced.” hence the name. You may have heard of the famous masked resistance group called the “Zapatistas.” Since 1994 Chiapas, Mexico southern most state has lived in low intensity warfare, struggling to preserve their ways of life, culture, land and health I went there with a Christian Peacemaking Team to visit the area of conflict and to meet, “Las Abejas,” (the Bees) a nonviolent Christian group. I was eager to learn from them. I did not expect to learn so much about knowing when to dance and when to mourn. I would have got it backwards.

29 Days of Hope

29DaysofHope Chiapas Dance Las Abejas Mexico NAFT Zapatistas

5 Counterintuitive Things to do to Perfect Thanksgiving.

Published November 23, 2011 by Doug Harrison

Be Alone Thanksgiving is a good day to be together and it is an important day to be alone. The pressure of guests and kitchen can make it difficult to really find the deeper levels of gratitude without a little silence or at least quiet. Be especially kind and help make sure your spouse, friends, kids and others get time to leave the house and go for a walk. Be present today to yourself and to God so you can be present to others.

Tohu-Bohu

Taking Cobbler from Family: grace and the everyday gift economy pt. II

Published November 17, 2011 by Doug Harrison

A second reflection on grace and gifts: Here is the first: Taking Candy from Strangers.

My Aunt Pauline’s peach cobbler, and mysterious. She is one of those magical cooks who does not work from a recipe. She has mastered the art form, knows how to do what she does and does it effortlessly. Several of us in he family, including me, have tried diligently to reproduce the magic without any notable success. For years for my birthday it is the one thing I have asked from her. Not only does she not mind, it honors her. Its like “our thing.”

Uncategorized

Author: Doug Harrison